NEW YORK (December 3, 2009) – World champions JUAN MANUEL “JuanMa” LOPEZ, STEVEN LUEVANO and YURIORKIS GAMBOA, and Top-10 contender ROGERS MTAGWA will kickoff the new decade in separate world featherweight title fights, Saturday, January 23, in the WaMu Theater in the “Mecca of Boxing,” Madison Square Garden. Lopez, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior featherweight champion, will be moving up to challenge WBO featherweight titlist STEVEN LUEVANO, while Gamboa defends his World Boxing Association championship belt against top-10 contender ROGERS MTAGWA. Both fights will be televised live on HBO on the 2010 premiere telecast of Boxing After Dark, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast.) These four sluggers boast a combined record of 106-14-3 (71 KOs), a winning percentage of 86% and a victory by knockout ratio of 67%.

Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Arena Boxing U.S. and PR Best Boxing, tickets, priced at $200, $100, $75 and $50, go on sale Today! Thursday, December 3 at Noon, and can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, and online at www.thegarden.com.

“These four exciting fighters are about to usher in a new era at the “Mecca of Boxing” in one of boxing’s flagship divisions,” said promoter Bob Arum. “Like Henry Armstrong, Willie Pep and Sandy Saddler before them, these four gladiators will reunite Madison Square Garden and the featherweight division to their former glory..”

Lopez (27-0, 24 KOs), from Caguas, Puerto Rico, is in the second year of his world title reign, which began on June 7, 2008 when he ended the three-year tenure of defending champion Daniel Ponce De Leon via a first-round knockout. Lopez, already a Top-10 pound for pound favorite, has successfully defended his title five times since, four by knockout. In his last defense, an exciting 12-round unanimous decision victory over Mtagwa, Lopez’s impressive victory by stoppage streak ended at 14. Lopez was named Puerto Rico’s 2008 “Fighter of the Year” where he went 4-0, (4 KOs), including three first-round knockouts, all in world championship fights. Looking to repeat, he posted another perfect year in 2009, having stopped two-time world champion Gerry Peñalosa and undefeated North American Boxing Association (NABA) super bantamweight champion Olivier Lontchi in 10 and 9 rounds, respectively, this year in addition to his points win over Mtagwa.

A native of East Los Angeles, Luevano (37-1-1, 15 KOs), of La Puente, Calif., captured the vacant WBO featherweight title in London in 2007, knocking out undefeated Englishman Nicky Cook in the 11th round. Since then, Luevano has successfully defended his title five times during his two-year reign against top-rated, world-class opposition, including Bernabe Concepcion (21-1-1, 17 KOs), Billy Dib (21-0, 11 KOs), Mario Santiago (19-1, 14 KOs), Terdsak Jandaeng (29-2, 19 KOs), and Antonio Davis (24-3, 12 KOs). Combined, his world title challengers had a combined record of 114-7-1 (73 KOs) – a winning percentage of 93% with a victory by knockout ratio of 64%. In short, Luevano gets his business done. Trained by former world champion Robert Garcia, and Robert’s father Eduardo, Luevano and his corner boasts a team that is poised, confident and experienced against very good opposition.

Gamboa (16-0, 14 KOs), a native of Guantanamo who now hails from Miami, Fla., has been considered one of boxing’s brightest lights dating back to his amateur days, which included winning Olympic gold at the 2004 games. Since making his professional debut in 2007, Gamboa has sought – and defeated – the toughest and most experienced opposition available. In only his second year as a professional he collected the NABF and WBC International super featherweight titles and then moved down in weight to collect the NABO featherweight title in three consecutive fights, with victories over Johnnie Edwards, Darling Jimenez and Al Seeger, respectively, destroying Edwards and Seeger in the first round while winning a 10-round unanimous decision over Jimenez.. He captured the WBA featherweight title on April 17, knocking out four-time world title challenger Jose Rojas in the 10th round. He successfully defended the title on October 10 at The Garden, knocking out Panamanian strongman Whyber Garcia in the fourth round. The two-fisted Cuban KO artist boasts a lethal combination of power and speed, an amateur background second to none (he is a four-time Gold Medal winner in the Cuban National Championships) and a victory by knockout ratio that’s on par with JuanMa Lopez.

Mtagwa (26-13-2, 18 KOs), a native of Dodoma, Tanzania, who has been compared to the great Dick Tiger because of his heritage and his improvement with age, has made Philadelphia, Penn. his base since moving to the U.S. in 2000. The former African Boxing Union super bantamweight champion has incrementally advanced his career by fighting and defeating some of the best competition at 122 and 126 pounds. But his “coming out party” on the world stage occurred in his last fight when he challenged world champion Juan Manuel Lopez for his WBO junior featherweight title at The Garden in October. Mtagwa was the star of the night, trading leather with JuanMa for 12 exciting rounds, pushing the champ to the brink before the final bell rang. Though the judges’ scores reflected a decision loss for Mtagwa, the fight proved he was a winner, earning him another world title shot, this time against Gamboa. Mtagwa’s career highlights include winning the vacant U.S. Boxing Association (USBA) featherweight title in 2005 via a 10th-round TKO of Joe Morales. He successfully defended the title twice, knocking out Art Simonyan and Alvin Brown, both in the fourth round. His come-from-behind 10th-round TKO victory over Tomas Villas last year, ending Villa’s three-year, 12-bout unbeaten streak, was considered a 2008 Fight of the Year candidate. Currently world-rated No. 7 by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and No. 10 by the WBO, Mtagwa is trained by Bobby “Boogaloo” Watts, one of only three men to have beaten Marvelous Marvin Hagler. For fight week updates, log on to www.toprank.com and www.hbo.com/boxing .

Saturday, November 21, 2009

The hub shares some good info for those who are going to watch UFC 106 online or in television this Saturday, November 21, 2009.

Much like the 105 card, not sure why people think its such a shit card. As far as it being a PPV, the numbers will be just fine. For the average fan this is Tito's return to the UFC, against Forrest who is a well known fighter in his own right. And altough Forrest has been dragged through themud after his debacle against AS, there are plenty of people who want to see how he rebounds. For more weel versed fans of mma, this is a classic rematch that many have been wanting for some time. I personally felt that Griffin won the first fight 29-28. He rebounded nicely after some vicious GnP in the first round (actually getting back to his feet in the first after the attack from Ortiz)and handled business in the last 2 rounds. Griffin , as well as Ortiz, both need to win in this fight which sets up for some excitement. Lil Nog vs. Cane is a great match up as well. Both fighters definitely have the cred to be on a big card. Amir hopefully gets into this fight, it will be nice to see if he was worthy of winning the contract. Perhaps the most intriguing fight is Kos vs. AJ. IMO Kos is the only fighter who has given GSP any trouble since GSP last lost. Rumble is a vicious striker. Hopefully AJ won't have any trouble making weight and there is no controversy for this fight. If Kos doesn't try to bang with Johnson he should get the win. So aftfer a freebie in 105, this PPV is actually ok. Yes its true that there aren't any title fights, but mant of these fights have title implications. The numbers aren't going to reach the 100 strtosphere, but they will just fine all the same.

Here's the UFC 106 preview trailer:

Catch another set of fights for the UFC 106 live stream via PPV, or in TV with SpikeTV for the preliminaries.

Talking about the real thing, that's Pacquiao vs Cotto, Manny has evolved as a fighter more than anyone I've watched in the past 10 to 20 years. He is taking his game to an unseen level in boxing and I don't think he has even gotten all the way there yet. A fast, brutal puncher with an aggressive style yet he has developed great skill and now the defense is coming along to. Great footwork and anticipation to go along with a huge knack for finding openings or blasting them open himelf, nobody can touch him at this point.

Friday, October 23, 2009

The UFC 104 live stream is coming up this Saturday night! Got your own predictions already? Here's mine:

Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua-Lyoto is becoming Fedor like. People have myth's about him, he's getting all the respect in the world and people believe he is untouchable. Well wake up people, he hasn't defended his belt yet. Until Lyoto faces 3 really good Lhw's I'm remaining skeptical. Liddell was untouchable once, but people found a way to beat him (unlike fedor). However, I still believe Lyoto takes this one. Rua was great in the days of soccer kicks and foot stomps, and could be great again. But that lay-off and injury really changed him as a fighter, not to mention the cage. For this UFC 104 live stream online, Rua has a legitimate chance to win this fight because he's Rua, but I don't see any conceivable way of that happening. Rua's striking isn't as good, his ground game might be as good, and his clinch work probably isn't as good either. But Machida has the intangibles, things that really can't be learned but are instinctive. His spacial awareness is second to none (other than maybe BJ Penn) and his footwork is amazing.

Spencer Fisher vs. Joe StevensonMany people aren't looking to forward to this fight but I think it's going to be great. Stevenson loves to stand - as we saw against diego - but that isn't his foray. Joe has some of the best wrestling in the lw division and has a great submission game. The King is an excellent technical striker, but lacks the KO power seen in Melvin guillard. Fisher also has a great ground game, but isn't nearly as powerful as Stevenson in the wrestling dept. I can see this UFC 104 daddy turning this into a wrestling/gnp game in his favor, but the king could use reversals and sweeps to possibly keep the fight on the feet. If that's the case I see daddy losing in the striking game, but it's not likely. Both fighters have exceptional cardio and heart which could make for fight of the night. If daddy comes in to win, this fight will end up on the ground with Daddy winning by his signature guillotine, if he comes to put on a show we could see it on the feet the whole UFC 104 live streaming night.

Ryan Bader vs. Eric SchaferRavishing Red is back, and that isn't necessarily a good thing for Bader. Bader is a powerful wrestler with big slams and heavy but slow hands. Once bader starts to get tired he can tend to telegraph his punches. Bader will have the edge in take downs, gnp, and heavy hands, but it ends there. On the feet, Eric has good striking. He's reasonably quicker on the feet than bader. Eric will undoubtedly get taken down in this fight, and that's where the real battle will unfold. Schafer is an expert in BJJ and will go for the kill. Before this UFC 104 live, We've seen Schafer sweep and implement lethal BJJ from the top as well. Bader will want to KO shafer on the feet, but if he's unable to do that he'll take schafer down and that could be deadly for him. I see Schafer winning this fight both on the feet and on the ground. Ultimately, I see a tko or Sub for Schafer.

Ben Rothwell vs. Cain VelasquezCain is the heavy fav in this fight and I don't agree with that. Cain is lighter (could be a 205er), faster and has more cardio. He also has a top level wrestling game that is his bread and butter. He's got fairly heavy hands as well and can end a fight if his gets inside, but Rothwell is no slouch. The experience goes to rothwell, so do the heavy hands and same with the Submission game. Rothwell has a tendency to gas and that could be the big problem here. If cain doesn't get KO'd in the first 2 rounds, the fight will undoubtedly go to cain. Cain's cardio for a heavyweight is at the top and he could really ware big ben down with takedowns and gnp (like he did against Kongo). It will be interesting to see this UFC 104 fight if Big Ben gets on top of Cain. We haven't seen Cain on his back much, and everyone knows wrestlers don't like to be on their backs. If rothwell could keep up with cain on the ground and end up on top, I could easily see him end the fight with Gnp, Kimura, or Arm bar. This fight for me goes to Cain, but by a very small margin. This will be the biggest test of Cain's career and if he makes it out alive, big things are ahead in this future.

Pat Barry vs. Antoni HardonkCan anyone say slug fest? Both these guys like to throw leather, that's a fact. Pat Barry isn't as experienced or as large as Hardonk, but that doesn't matter. Barry has more than enough power to KO anyone in the HW division. Both are great kickers too. I see a KO in round 1 or 2 of this fight. The only problem, is if neither are able to finish eachother, this could turn into a snoozefest. The edge here goes to Hardonk I believe. He's got the bigger reach and is overall the bigger man. Size isn't everything, but a good jab game by Hardonk could very well determine the winner of this fight. Will this fight go to the ground? Maybe, if it does I give the edge to hardonk as well. Hardonk takes this UFC 104 live streaming fight in round 2.